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Joseph Woll

Maple Leafs Have Examined Goalie Trade Market

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The Maple Leafs have “dipped their toes” into the goaltender trade market in the wake of an injury to youngster Joseph Woll and poor play from the more experienced Ilya Samsonov, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Freidman reported on Hockey Night in Canada’s Saturday Headlines program.

Nothing is imminent, however, and Friedman says not to expect a deal without the first few days after the holiday roster freeze lifts next Wednesday. The Maple Leafs are reportedly intent on wanting to work with Samsonov and hope he can return to the true starter form he displayed last season.

Samsonov’s play has indeed been nightmarish this year. Through 14 games, he has a rather peculiar 5-2-5 record but a .871 SV% that ranks near the bottom of the league. His -11.5 goals saved above average are third-worst in the NHL, ahead of only Blackhawks youngster Arvid Söderblom (-12.6 GSAA) and Hurricanes backup Antti Raanta (-15.1 GSAA), the latter of whom was waived earlier this week.

While Samsonov has struggled with inconsistency since breaking into the league with the Capitals in 2019, few expected this significant drop-off from last season’s play. He started a career-high 40 contests, limited in part due to minor injuries and the fact he was viewed as the backup to two-time Stanley Cup champion Matt Murray heading into the season. Injuries and mediocrity plagued Murray’s brief time in Toronto, allowing Samsonov to take the starter’s crease. Murray remains on long-term injured reserve this season after undergoing hip surgery and is not expected to be available at any point.

He responded with a 27-10-5 record, .919 SV%, 2.33 GAA, and four shutouts, all career highs. In the postseason, he outdueled Lightning star Andrei Vasilevskiy in the crease and guided the Maple Leafs to their first playoff series win in the salary cap era. Unfortunately, an injury in Game 3 of the team’s second-round series against the Panthers ended his season, and the Maple Leafs bowed out in five games.

The Leafs, however, were not sold on a long-term extension for Samsonov – a restricted free agent last summer – given their tight salary cap situation. Samsonov elected for salary arbitration with the club, and he did not agree to an extension with the team before the hearing, resulting in a one-year, $3.55MM award that makes him an unrestricted free agent next summer. After this season’s struggles, it’s looked like the prudent choice.

While Toronto would prefer to rehabilitate Samsonov’s game, his one-year deal makes him an easier player to trade if they opt for an upgrade in the crease. The 25-year-old Woll is beginning to solidify himself as the team’s starter after posting a .915 SV% through 15 appearances, but he remains sidelined week-to-week with a high ankle sprain. He isn’t expected to miss a significant chunk of the season, though, so any move Toronto makes in the crease would be to find a better tandem partner or backup for Woll come playoff time.

A seller’s market makes a trade purely for short-term help undesirable. As Friedman notes, only a handful of teams have legitimate options of value in the crease available on the trade market, and inquiring teams have felt “extorted” by asking prices for targets, assumedly netminders like Ducks starter John Gibson and Canadiens tandem veteran Jake Allen.

One player who is not an option for NHL time this season is 22-year-old Swede Dennis Hildeby, who Friedman reports Toronto intends to keep in the minors to continue his development. The 2022 fourth-round pick is massive at 6-foot-7 and 223 pounds and has exploded for a .921 SV% and 7-4-2 record through 13 games with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies in his first full season in North America.

The play of veteran call-up Martin Jones in the wake of Woll’s injury is also something to monitor. A handful of solid performances could make the Maple Leafs comfortable with what they have, especially given his notable postseason experience. Jones was in the crease for the San Jose Sharks’ only Stanley Cup Final appearance in franchise history in 2016 and led all playoff goalies with a .928 SV% in 2018, although he hasn’t been an above-average NHL option since.

Entering tonight’s games, however, Jones had a respectable .907 SV% and one shutout in five appearances, three of them starts. For a team consistently teetering against the salary cap’s Upper Limit, squeezing all they can out of Jones and his $875K cap hit is an appealing proposition for Toronto.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Joseph Woll Out Week-To-Week With High Ankle Sprain

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Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll is sidelined week-to-week with a high ankle sprain, per a team announcement Saturday morning. Woll sustained the injury in the third period of Thursday’s 4-3 win over the Senators after stopping 29 of 31 shots faced.

While this will be a longer-term absence, the Maple Leafs appear to have avoided the worst with Woll. The 25-year-old netminder could not put any weight on his left leg while leaving the ice and needed help getting to the locker room. The injury, which appeared to be initially sustained early in the third period, was aggravated on a rather innocuous-looking play with ten minutes left in regulation. Woll moved slightly across his crease to stop a sharp-angle backhand shot from Senators center Rourke Chartier and collapsed in pain after his left leg hit the post.

Unfortunately for Woll, this is not his first ankle injury – he missed significant AHL time in 2020-21 with a similar issue. He and the Leafs hope this won’t become a long-term issue as he slides into the role of Toronto’s starting netminder.

Woll, who’s signed to a bargain-bin contract carrying a $767K cap hit through 2025, has been excellent for the Leafs this season. Starting 13 of their 23 contests, he’s posted an 8-5-1 record, .916 SV% and 2.80 GAA. He’s had a handful of spectacular performances over the past few days, including making 38 saves on 39 shots in a shootout victory against the Panthers and 37 saves on 40 shots in a shootout victory against the Kraken late last month. Per MoneyPuck, Woll has stopped 7.4 goals above expected, which is good enough for 12th in the league.

While the Leafs didn’t issue a specific timeline for recovery, this should not be a months-long absence. A standard high-ankle sprain recovery timeline for athletes is in the four-to-six-week range.

That means it’s Ilya Samsonov’s crease again in Toronto for the next month or so. After guiding the Leafs to their first playoff series win in nearly two decades, he’s struggled mightily in 2023-24. Through ten starts, Samsonov has a .878 SV% and 3.58 GAA – despite a decent record of 4-1-3, he hasn’t been nearly good enough after posting a career-high .919 SV% in 40 starts last season. He has not played since their 4-3 overtime loss to the Blackhawks on November 24 and was not dressed for Thursday’s game against the Senators, as he’s been sidelined with an illness since the beginning of the month.

The Leafs did not announce a corresponding roster move along with Woll’s injury, suggesting that Samsonov is healthy enough to at least dress for tonight’s game against the Predators. If he’s not fit enough to start, 33-year-old Martin Jones will make his first Maple Leafs start after clearing waivers during preseason. He stopped nine of ten shots faced in relief against Ottawa.

Jones, 33, signed a one-year pact with the Maple Leafs in August to provide competition for the backup role with Woll heading into camp. He’s struggled in brief AHL action this season, his first in a decade, posting a .870 SV% in five games. He’s posted a save percentage below the NHL average in five straight seasons, although he did start 42 games for the Kraken last season, his highest figure since the 2018-19 campaign.

While Toronto would prefer to keep him in the minors for development purposes, 22-year-old Dennis Hildeby has been excellent for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and is available for recall. The 2022 fourth-round pick has a 1.89 GAA, .925 SV% and two shutouts in his first full season in North America.

Maple Leafs Notes: Keefe, Matthews, Depth, Nylander, Woll

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Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving held a press conference today after Auston Matthews’ four-year extension earlier this week, touching on various topics related to the organization. One of them was the future of head coach Sheldon Keefe, who Treliving said he’s “enjoyed getting to know,” and the two parties will continue to work on an extension.

Since taking over behind the Toronto bench early in the 2019-20 season after the team fired Mike Babcock, Keefe has put together a 166-71-30 record as an NHL head coach, good enough for a .678 points percentage. The 42-year-old coach is entering the final season of a two-year extension he had signed before the 2021-22 campaign started. While he hasn’t yet guided the team to any sustained playoff success, he has overseen one of the most successful regular-season stretches in franchise history, leading Toronto to have one of the longest active playoff streaks in the league. Without a Conference Final appearance to speak of, however, it would surprise many to see a long-term extension for Keefe announced.

Elsewhere in Leafland:

  • Treliving said contract negotiations with Matthews were far from animous, calling the talks a “partnership more than a negotiation.” Matthews will have the highest cap hit in league history when the extension kicks in for the 2024-25 campaign with $13.25MM per season, but Treliving was expecting to dole out that much cash. “In the situation he’s in, he could have come in and demanded more than he got,” Treliving said.
  • Regarding filling out the rest of the roster, Toronto is still in a delicate dance with the salary cap, needing to shed about $3MM before the season starts, even with LTIR relief, CapFriendly projects. That hasn’t stopped Treliving from considering a few minor additions, he said today, although he didn’t indicate whether those would come in the form of tryouts or guaranteed one-year contracts before training camps start next month.
  • Treliving also spoke briefly about winger William Nylander’s pending free agency, now his main order of business after getting Matthews extended. Like Nylander said earlier this week, however, Treliving feels no rush or deadline to get a deal done at the moment, willing to let negotiations play out and remain civil and productive. If the two sides can’t bridge the reported multi-million dollar gap, however, it’s hard to imagine Treliving letting Nylander remain on the team past the trade deadline without an extension close to fruition. The 27-year-old Swede is coming off the first 40-goal season of his career.
  • Lastly, Treliving spoke highly today of young netminder Joseph Woll, who he believes is ready to assume the backup job behind Ilya Samsonov next season. Some wondered about Treliving’s and Keefe’s plans for the crease after inking veteran Martin Jones to a one-year, one-way deal earlier this month, but it’s clear now the Jones signing was purely for insurance purposes in case of an injury or an unexpected poor performance from Woll in camp. There is surely no room to stash Jones on the roster as a third goaltender, however, meaning he’ll very likely be exposed to waivers at the beginning of the season.

Joseph Woll Returned To AHL

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The Toronto Marlies and Rochester Americans will resume the AHL’s North Division Finals on Wednesday evening, with the former receiving quite the reinforcement. Joseph Woll, fresh off taking over the Toronto Maple Leafs net in their second-round series, has been returned to the AHL.

Woll, 24, has been tremendous for the Marlies this season, posting a 16-4-1 record and .927 save percentage. He carried over that strong play to the NHL, where he went 6-1 in the regular season and registered a .915 in four playoff appearances.

The young netminder appears to be on track for a full-time NHL job next season, though nothing about the Maple Leafs looks set in stone at this point. If he does land a spot, it will provide the team with a significant salary cap advantage.

Woll signed a three-year extension in February 2022 that keeps him under contract through 2024-25 at a very affordable $767K cap hit. With uncertainty surrounding the future of Matt Murray, and Ilya Samsonov headed for restricted free agency, Woll could be the answer to some of Toronto’s long-standing goaltending issues.

The team has had trouble developing its own netminding prospects but showed great patience with the 62nd overall pick from 2016. Woll went to college for three years, suffered several injuries early in his pro career, and has generally progressed slowly (as goaltenders sometimes do).

For now, he’ll try to help the Marlies turn around the best-of-five series and stave off elimination, before entering a crucial offseason of training ahead of his big NHL opportunity.

Maple Leafs Notes: Matthews, Woll, Hildeby

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Heading into an offseason that promises plenty of big changes, Chris Johnston of NorthStarBets.ca reports the Toronto Maple Leafs top priority is obvious. Johnston writes that signing Auston Matthews to a long-term high-priced contract has to be the team’s number one priority and filling in the pieces around him can come next.

Matthews is now heading into the final year of his current contract after the Leafs were knocked out of the playoffs by the Florida Panthers in five games. Matthews has earned just over $11.6MM per season since his entry-level contract expired in 2019 and is due a raise on that enormous contract. Matthews has a strong case to surpass Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6MM annual cap hit as the highest paid player in the league, but Johnston believes the Maple Leafs need to do whatever it takes to get the 25 year old’s name on a new contract and they are eligible to do that as soon as July 1.

The Maple Leafs have some other huge questions to answer this offseason. William Nylander is also eligible to sign a contract extension as he could be an unrestricted free agent in 2024, like Matthews. Mitch Marner and John Tavares has just two years left on their contracts, but no decision needs to be made on them quite yet. Off the ice, general manager Kyle Dubas is also a free agent as his contract expires on June 30. Head coach Sheldon Keefe has one year left on his contract and the team needs to decide if they extend him, replace him or let him ride out the final year of his deal.

  • Also in Leaf Land, Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun reports Joseph Woll will return to the Toronto Marlies next week. Woll was the team’s number three netminder most of the season behind Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov, but with both of those goalies injured in the playoffs, Woll started the final two games of the Maple Leafs season. Murray was great for the Toronto Marlies in the AHL this season, posting a 2.37 GAA and a .927 SV% in 21 games. The Marlies are facing elimination after losing the first two games of their Best-of-5 Division Final series and will play Game 3 on Wednesday.
  • Speaking of Toronto Marlies goaltenders, Dennis Hildeby was returned to the AHL earlier today per the AHL transactions page. He was called up after Samsonov’s injury and served as the Maple Leafs third string, in case of emergency goalie in the final few games of the postseason. The 21 year old played most of this season in Sweden’s SHL with Farjestad and was the Maple Leafs fourth round pick in 2022.

Injury Notes: Samsonov, Knies, Raanta

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are still in Stanley Cup contention after staving off elimination, winning last night’s Game 4 against the Florida Panthers 2-1. The victory came in large part due to the strong play of rookie netminder Joseph Woll, who stopped 24 of 25 shots and saved 2.02 goals above expected (MoneyPuck).

They’ll have to turn to Woll again for Game 5, as head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters this morning that starter Ilya Samsonov remains unavailable with an upper-body injury. Samsonov left early in the second period of Game 3 after Maple Leafs defender Luke Schenn barrelled into him while defending a Panthers rush. Toronto’s starter for much of the season, Samsonov had been largely passable in the postseason, making key saves despite a .898 save percentage on the whole during the postseason. While Woll has just 14 combined regular-season and playoff games in his NHL career, he has a combined 10-3-0 record and has posted save percentages well over .900.

Other injury notes from the playoff landscape this morning:

  • Keefe also revealed to reporters forward Matthew Knies’ concussion symptoms are improving after missing Games 3 and 4, but he’s not yet ready to return to the lineup. Knies was knocked out of Game 2 in the first period, sustaining the concussion on a hit from Panthers center Sam Bennett. The rookie forward had cemented himself in a top-six role by the time of his injury, recording four points in his first seven playoff games.
  • Carolina Hurricanes netminder Antti Raanta said he’s recovered from an illness that kept him out for the past three games, meaning he’ll back up Frederik Andersen tonight for a potentially series-clinching Game 5. Raanta started the first five games of Carolina’s First Round series against the New York Islanders but has since been superseded by Andersen, who’s posted a 4-0-0 record and .930 save percentage in five starts.

Evening Notes: Voit, Hildeby, Teravainen

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to stave off elimination this evening against the Florida Panthers. While the team on the ice is trying to keep their season alive, management was busy today making a couple of small moves. The Toronto Marlies announced that the Maple Leafs have assigned forward prospect Ty Voit to them via the Sarnia Sting of the OHL. Voit finished second in OHL scoring this year with 105 points in 67 games and just wrapped his OHL season this past Sunday when Sarnia was eliminated from the OHL playoffs by the London Knights.

Voit was drafted by the Leafs in the fifth round of the 2021 NHL entry draft and has seen his stock rise in the past two seasons. He finished eighth in OHL scoring in 2021-22 with 80 points in 67 games and followed it up with 24 goals and 81 assists this year. It’ll be interesting to see how the Pittsburgh native adjusts to professional hockey as he is undersized at 5’9” tall and 150 pounds.

In other notes this evening:

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs announced another move earlier today calling up Dennis Hildeby from the Toronto Marlies to serve as the team’s playoff emergency backup goaltender tonight behind Joseph Woll and Matt Murray. The 21-year-old spent almost all the 2022-23 season in the Swedish Hockey League with Farjestads BK Karlstad. He dressed in just two regular season games for the Marlies posting an 0-1-0 record with 5.28 goals against average and a .849 save percentage.
  • Carolina Hurricanes team reporter Walt Ruff reported today that head coach Rod Brind’Amour ruled out any possibility that forward Teuvo Teravainen could return in their second round series against the New Jersey Devils. Teravainen suffered an injury to his hand after taking a slash in a game against the New York Islanders, he had surgery back in mid-April and has been rehabbing the injury ever since. He skated today with the club but is “a long way away,” according to Brind’Amour. Teravainen put up 12 goals and 25 assists this season in 68 games this season and would provide a good depth scoring option for Carolina if the Canes advance to the Eastern Conference Final.

Afternoon Notes: Bruins, Samsonov, Sprong

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Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub is reporting that Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney is hinting that the Bruins will go into a re-tool this offseason. What that will be remains to be seen but the long-time GM was quoted as saying, “roster changes are likely coming.” Sweeney continually referenced Boston’s dire salary cap situation as well as integrating younger players into the lineup. Sweeney’s words are no surprise given that Boston has less than $5MM in cap space entering the offseason and have just seven of their current forwards signed to contracts for next year. Boston will also need to work out a new contract for backup goaltender Jeremy Swayman who will be a restricted free agent this summer.

On top of needing to work out a deal with Swayman, Boston has many other key free agents who will likely need to move on given the Bruins lack of cap space. Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí are both unrestricted free agents who played on low cap hits last season and hit bonus clauses that will cause Boston to carry bonus overages of $4.5MM into 2023-24. Trade deadline acquisitions Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway are also all unrestricted free agents this summer and are likely to seek employment elsewhere. Given everything going on in Boston they will have a very different looking team than the one that lost in the first round to the Florida Panthers.

In other notes from around the NHL:

NHL Insider Chris Johnston tweeted today from Toronto Maple Leafs practice that Ilya Samsonov was not at Toronto practice and that goalie coach Curtis Sanford was working with Joseph Woll and Matt Murray. The Leafs have yet to offer an update on their netminders status for game 4. Samsonov is expected to have an MRI and some additional tests prior to the team offering an update on their starter for the elimination game on Wednesday. Woll would be the likely starter for Toronto should Samsonov be unable to play. The 26-year-old Samsonov was injured in a collision with teammate Luke Schenn in game 3 and was unable to return to action.

The Seattle Kraken have announced that forward Daniel Sprong has been ruled out of game 4 against the Dallas Stars. The 26-year-old is dealing with an upper body injury and won’t dress tonight as they Kraken look to take a 3-1 stranglehold on their second round series. Sprong has just two points in 10 games in these playoffs and is currently mired in a six-game pointless streak. He played just 6:36 in Seattle’s 7-2 game 3 victory and has been largely relegated to fourth line minutes during his recent stretch of poor play.

Ilya Samsonov To Have MRI And Other Tests

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a massive hole as they trail the Florida Panthers 3-0 in their best of seven Eastern Conference semi-final series. Now they may have to deal with an elimination game without goaltender Ilya Samsonov. David Alter of The Hockey News is reporting that Samsonov is feeling better today but will be going for an MRI and additional testing to gain a better understanding on what is happening with the 26-year-old. His status for game four is unknown currently.

Samsonov left game three early after he was run over by teammate Luke Schenn on an odd man rush. The former first round pick lay on the ice after the incident and was checked by Maple Leafs training staff. He was eventually ruled out of the game and did not return. Joseph Woll came in to relieve Samsonov and made 18 saves before allowing the overtime winning goal to Sam Reinhart.

Samsonov has been terrific this season for Toronto having posted a .919 save percentage to go along with a 27-10-5 record. Should he miss game four the Maple Leafs would likely go back to rookie Woll who filled in admirably for Samsonov. Woll has been great for Toronto in limited action this year having posted a 6-1 record with a .932 save percentage and 2.16 goals against average.

One thing to potentially keep an eye on could be current third string goaltender Matt Murray. The Thunder Bay native was cleared to return prior to the series and has been practicing with the club. Murray hasn’t played since he suffered a concussion in early April and while it is unlikely he would be thrown into the net to start an elimination game, he would become the backup should Samsonov miss any time.

Matt Murray To Be Toronto Maple Leafs Third Goalie

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David Alter of Sports Illustrated is reporting that Matt Murray is set to take the role as the Toronto Maple Leafs third goalie as they get set to begin their second round series against the Florida Panthers. The Thunder Bay native joined his Leafs teammates at practice today for the first time since he suffered a concussion on April 2 during a 5-2 Toronto loss against Detroit.

The 28-year-old will fall behind Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll on the Maple Leafs goaltending depth chart and will likely travel with the club when they head to Florida for games three and four. Murray has an exemplary track record in the playoffs having backstopped the Pittsburgh Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cups as a rookie in 2016 and 2017.

A lot has changed since those two championships as Murray has been relegated to an afterthought since being traded by the Penguins to the Ottawa Senators in 2020. Murray never found his footing in Ottawa as he battled inconsistency and injuries and was eventually traded last summer to Toronto in a salary dump.

Murray had an uneven first season in Toronto posting a 14-8-2 record with a 3.01 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. While he hasn’t posted elite numbers in years, he does offer Toronto a strong backup option should Samsonov stumble.

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